8/22/2018

After Eva Longoria was cast as Dora the Explorer's mom in the live-action movie, now we know it'll be Michael Pena as her padre. Isabela Moner will play the title character, a grown-up version of the popular cartoon character as she goes on a new adventure to save her parents and solve a mystery surrounding a lost Inca civilization. Pena was last seen in the Netflix sci-fi film Extinction, and as a weird villain in A Wrinkle in Time. Dora the Explorer opens August 2nd 2019 with James Bobin directing. [Variety]

The cast of Tom Cruise's Top Gun: Maverick just expanded by six, starting with the addition of talented Leave No Trace star, Thomasin McKenzie. The young actress is joined by Monica Barbaro (UnREAL), Charles Parnell (A Million Little Pieces), Jay Ellis (Insecure), Bashir Salahuddin (GLOW), and Danny Ramirez (Assassination Nation). They're part of a cast that also incudes Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, and Glen Powell. McKenzie is playing Amelia, the "precocious and sweet" daughter of Connelly's character. Top Gun: Maverick opens July 12th 2019, directed by Joseph Kosinski. McKenzie will be seen next in Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit. She's really a smart actress beyond her years, and you should check out my interview with her right here. [Deadline]

You can't throw a rock without hitting a movie with Atlanta standout Brian Tyree Henry in it, and now there's one more. The Emmy nominee will star in The Outside Story, an indie from first-time writer/director Casimir Nozkowski. The Brooklyn-based flick stars Henry as "Charles Young, an introverted editor living a vertical life in his 2nd-floor apartment, always on deadline and in a rut. When Charles locks himself out of his building, he’s forced to go horizontal and confront the world he’s been avoiding in search of a way back inside." Henry has a whopping three movies playing at TIFF next month: White Boy Rick, Widows, and If Beale Street Could Talk. He'll also be heard voicing a character in Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. This year he's already had roles in Hotel Artemis and Netflix's Irreplaceable You. [Deadline]